After dying before his time, an aspiring black comic gets a second shot at life - by being placed in the body of a wealthy white businessman.
Directors: Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz
Stars: Chris Rock, Regina King, Chazz Palminteri, Eugene Levy, Wanda Sykes.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0231775/
Version of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) and Heaven Can Wait (1978), perhaps my favorite, but I need to see the '78 version again. (I rated the '41 version 5, and remember disliking it. Not sure if it was just Robert Montgomery or why.)
One of my favorite moments: when CR gets his 3rd body and tries to hail a cab, gets passed several times, and realizes - joyously - that's he's a black man again.
Rated 5.4 (20,383)
Paramount & more, dir. Weitz & Weitz; 7
PG | 1h 41min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance | 28 June 1978
A Los Angeles Rams quarterback, accidentally taken away from his body by an overanxious angel before he was meant to die, returns to life in the body of a recently murdered millionaire.
Directors: Warren Beatty, Buck Henry
Writers: Elaine May (screenplay), Warren Beatty (screenplay), Harry Segall (based upon a play by), Robert Towne (uncredited).
Stars: Warren Beatty, James Mason, Julie Christie, Jack Warden, Charles Grodin, Dyan Cannon, Buck Henry.
I like this, but I like the '01 version better. Because CR is a comedian, we get a little more overt comedy. Also, it was that much more striking that he didn't bed his love interest, if only because of the more lascivious times.
I also caught RK looking as though she was in love more than JC. And I liked the fact that we saw what the millionaire looked like, to remind us with whom the love was blooming.
Other than the change of profession (comedian versus quarterback), the story is the same.
Rated 6.9 (16,409)
Paramount, dir. Beatty & Henry; 6
